The teams are getting closer and closer to home, but first, they must fly to the Land Down Under!

Teams will need to figure out how to get themselves there and will realize this will be one long journey! First, teams will get on one of two flights via Frankfurt or Zurich to Singapore. All teams will then get on the same flights via Darwin on to Alice Springs.

Once in Alice Springs, teams must make their way to Telegraph Station. And here, teams will find a Double Road Block: Relay or Decipher.

Telegraph Station is the birthplace of Alice Springs and was established in 1872 to relay messages between Darwin and Adelaide. For this Double Road Block, teams will go back in time and relay a message, the location of the next Route Marker, to each other using Morse code. The team member who will relay the message must first translate the location (Ayers Rock) to Morse code and then correctly transmit it. Their teammate must then decipher the message by translating the Morse code correctly.

After presenting the correct location, teams can then search the area for the Final Double Yield board of the Race.

And also their next clue. Teams will be taking a charter flight from Alice Springs to Ayers Rock Airport. But what they don’t know is that they will receive the next clue mid-air.

And that clue tells teams they must perform a tandem skydive! After jumping out of the plane, teams must keep their eyes open around Ayers Rock (also known as Uluru) for the flag and cluebox which they must make their way to on foot once they land back on solid ground.

That clue will reveal the Detour: Anangu Art or Bush Tucker Bites.

For both Detours, teams must rent bicycles to reach all the necessary locations.

In Anangu Art, teams must search the area around Uluru for four art stations. At each of these art stations, teams must recreate one of four pieces of a full aboriginal art piece which they will join together at the starting point to present and exchange for their next clue.

In Bush Tucker Bites, teams will search the area for 10 bush tuckers, food native to Australia. Teams must memorize the local names for each bush tucker and bike back to a table at the starting point containing each food item. They must correctly identify each item, without taking notes, to receive their next clue.

After the Detour, teams can drive their brand-new 2018 all-wheel drive Kia Sportages to the Pit Stop near Kata Tjuta, also known as the Olgas.

The first team to check in here will win P200,000 courtesy of Shell V-Power Nitro+.

“Director’s” Commentary

This definitely has the foundation of what could be an amazing, stunning Leg.

First off, one possible flight itinerary has Mallorca to Alice Springs taking 32 hours!!! That’s insane. I originally thought about inserting a Singapore Leg in between just as a little bit of a buffer and connecting point to avoid the long travel time. But I had already mapped out the earlier Legs and I wasn’t keen on replacing any of them with a possibly bland Singapore Leg.

Possible drama with booking tickets and finding flights might be nice if it happens though.

Anyway, once in Alice Springs, we start with the Double Road Block which I really wanted to do as soon as I read more about Alice Springs. I knew Alice Springs would be a connecting point en route to Uluru (the focus of the Leg). So reading about the telegraph station and its importance made me think of this Double Road Block. It’s a good task for a Double Road Block since it involves both team members and one or both could mess up. It’s certainly a straightforward task, but it can present its own challenges on both sides.

Now for the surprise skydive, I don’t really know how much of a surprise we can make it. I always thought about, What if teams get on a flight and are shocked when they are told to suddenly jump out? lol That would be great TV. And I thought adding that element would hopefully keep things exciting since skydiving can be so processional. Skydiving over Uluru though should be stunning.

I really like this Detour because it will be able to really showcase the area around Uluru. Getting teams to bike around as well in possibly hot temperatures is great. (It will also play into the Final Leg *wink*wink*) The aboriginal art task has been done before, but having to do it at four different stations and then needing to put it together should make it more challenging. The bush tucker task is also a different version of various similar taste and identify tasks on TAR.

Finally, the 45 minute drive from Uluru to Kata Tjuta could provide one last challenge to teams. We hope!